Last week the San Francisco Parent Political Action Committee (Parent PAC) proudly endorsed Emily Murase , Mark Murphy , and Shamann Walton for Board of Education for the November 2014 election. The Parent PAC was impressed with all three candidates’ extensive history of advocating for children and better public schools in all neighborhoods in San Francisco.

At the same meeting, the Parent PAC also endorsed Board of Education Commissioners’ Sandra Fewer and Rachel Norton’s resolution to change the “tie-breakers” in the public school assignment system. The resolution calls for “flipping” the Census Tract Integration Preference (CTIP 1) and the “Neighborhood Preference” tie-breakers. If this resolution is adopted by the school board, it will result in families having a higher probability of getting assigned to their “attendance area” school. City-wide schools and programs (Immersion programs and K-8 schools) will be unaffected. The Parent PAC hopes that this small change will give San Francisco’s families more predictability regarding where their child will attend kindergarten. For more information, please read Jill Tucker’s article about the proposed change.

Finally, the Parent PAC is pleased to announce that on Tuesday, July 22, the Soda Tax was officially placed on the November, 2014 ballot. The Soda Tax is a $.02 per ounce tax on sugar sweetened beverages. Recent data indicates that if passed, the Soda Tax will reduce consumption of sugary beverages in San Francisco by up to 31% while simultaneously raising up to $54 million earmarked for nutrition, active recreation, and education. This tax will take a 2/3 majority of San Francisco voters to pass. You can find more information at www.choosehealthsf.com .

The Parent PAC was founded by and for San Francisco parents and is committed to giving parents a voice in the political process to positively impact the lives of all San Francisco families. The Parent PAC supports and promotes city candidates, measures, and policies that will most effectively ensure high quality education for every child in every neighborhood, increase access to affordable youth programs that support working families and enrich the lives of our children and sustain healthy, safe and vibrant communities city-wide. We can’t do this work alone, please consider contributing to the Parent PAC so we can make San Francisco a city where families can thrive!